Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Bonnaroo swarmed over YouTube this past weekend, with two channels piping constant music starting last Friday morning. Every time we tuned in, we found something amazing happening: whether it was Battles doing an extended version of “Africastle” or Kenny Rogers sitting in with Phish. If you missed it, we’ve got the highlights. But if you still haven’t had your fill of live music, tune into youtube.com/presents this Wednesday at 1 p.m. PT to watch Swedish pop’s latest stealth missile, Niki & The Dove, perform live. And now, onto this week’s offerings on youtube.com/music.

She’s a rough and tumble singer who’s garnered comparisons to Janis Joplin and Grace Slick -- but when she gets going, we tend to hear shades of Heart and Bonnie Raitt in Grace Potter’s smoky voice. She’s been with the Nocturnals for a decade, and in the past few years they’ve finally found a broader audience -- thanks in part to Potter’s guest spot on Kenny Chesney’s “You and Tequila” and mostly to a growing hunger for blues rock. As the band releases their new album, The Lion the Beast the Beat, she tours us through her favorite videos. And we gotta say, we love her eclectic taste -- this lady rocks out to everything from Sharon Jones to the Beastie Boys. We’re not surprised.

Our wee website is brimming with undiscovered talent, and every so often we feel the need to find it and salute it. This month, we discovered five female singer-songwriters who knocked our socks off. Not surprisingly, they’re a global group, hailing from as far afield as England, Nigeria, Chile, Slovenia and Seattle. But despite their geographic spread, they’ve got a few things in common: they all play the guitar, they all pen original songs, and they all have a knack for melody that you can’t fake. Here’s to the up-and-coming generation.

And last but not least, POP ETC, formerly known as the Morning Benders, are releasing a new album today, fresh on the heels of a name change. The change seems to have freed the band up creatively, but their commitment to dreamily cathartic songcraft is still there -- in spades. Find out what other music makes the band swoon today.